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WILL Germans be theeventual custodians ofSanskrit, its rich heritageand culture?

If the demand for Sanskrit andIndology courses in Germany isany indication, that’s what thefuture looks like. Unable to copewith the flood of applicationsfrom around the world, the SouthAsia Institute, University of Hei-delberg, had to start a summer

school in spoken Sanskrit inSwitzerland, Italy and — believeit or not — India too.

“When we started it 15 years ago, wewere almost ready to shut it after acouple of years. Instead, we had to

increase strength and take the courseto other European countries,” saidProfessor Dr. Axel Michaels, head ofclassical Indology at the university.

In Germany, 14 of the top universities

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Even 14 German universities teaching India’sancient language fail to meet growing global demand, courses begin in Italy & Switzerland

By Aditya Ghosh in Heidelberg

EXCLUSIVE Reading original texts inSanskrit is essential as theseare some of the earliestthoughts and discoveries.

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— PROF.AXEL MICHAELS Head of Classical Indology, University of Heidelberg

SANSKRITFEVERGRIPSGERMANY

NOW SHEILA SPEAKSUP AGAINST RAGA

14 Mail Today, New Delhi / Chandigarh, Wednesday, April 15, 2015 Mail Today, New Delhi, Wednesday, April 15, 2015

continued from page 1

teach Sanskrit, classical andmodern Indology compared tojust four in the UK.

The summer school spans amonth in August every year anddraws applications from acrossthe globe. “So far, 254 studentsfrom 34 countries have partici-pated in this course. Every yearwe have to reject many applica-tions,” said Dr. Michaels. Apartfrom Germany, the majority ofstudents come from the US,Italy, UK and the rest of Europe.

Linking Sanskrit with religionand a certain political ideologywas “stupid” and “detrimental tothe cause” of its rich heritage,the professor said. “Even thecore thoughts of Buddhism werein the Sanskrit language. To bet-ter understand the genesis of ori-ental philosophy, history, lan-guages, sciences and culture, it’sessential to read the originalSanskrit texts as these are someof the earliest thoughts and dis-coveries,” he added.

Francesca Lunari, a medicalstudent who has been studyingSanskrit at Heidelberg Univer-sity, agreed. “I am interested inpsychoanalysis and must knowhow human thoughts originatedthrough texts, cultures and soci-eties. I will learn Bangla also todecipher the seminal works ofGirindra Sekhar Bose, a pioneerof oriental psychiatry who hashardly been studied – even inIndia. Learning Sanskrit is thefirst step,” she said.

Languages such as Bangla, inwhich Bose had written his theo-ries challenging Freud, mightface a crisis similar to Sanskritbecause of the onslaught of Eng-lish if these languages aren’t pre-served within households, felt DrHans Harder, head of the depart-ment of modern South Asian lan-guages and literatures (modernIndology), Heidelberg University.

“A significant part of the globalcultural heritage will becomeextinct if major languages likeHindi and Bangla fall prey toIndian English which, in theprocess, has only got poorer,” headded. An expert in Bangla,Hindi and Urdu apart from Euro-pean languages, Hardercautioned against sucha disaster as moreupwardly mobilefamilies stop teach-ing their own lan-guage to their chil-dren.

Studying ethno-Indology helpscontextualise and

NEWS SPECIAL REPORT

link subjects to ancient texts.“One can better understandevolution of politics and eco-nomics by studying Arthashas-tra by Chanakya,” said Dr.Michaels. So this semester theinstitute is offering a course on‘human physiology and psychol-ogy in the early Upanishads’ byAnand Mishra, an IIT mathe-matics graduate who took upthe study of Sanskrit for hisresearch on evolving a moregrammatically suitable comput-ing language. “Working on

Panini’s Sanskrit grammar, Irealised it could be a great

tool in computing lan-guage,” said Mishra.

Dr. Michaels feels thatinstead of indulging ina political and religiousdebate, Indians shouldtry to preserve theirheritage. “Don’t we

conserve a rare, old

painting or sculpture? This is a livelanguage…and rich cultural her-itage which might become thecasualty of neglect just as greatcivilisations like Hampi, the art ofAjanta and temples of Konark gotburied in oblivion. It was up to theBritish to discover them later. San-skrit, along with its culture, philos-ophy and science might becomesimilarly extinct,” he claimed,adding: “On the other hand, thereis so much yet to discover throughSanskrit…details of Indus Valleycivilisation, for example.”

Germany has already been astorehouse of Sanskrit scholarsto the world. “The majority ofSanskrit scholars, includingthose at Harvard, CaliforniaBerkeley and the UK, are Ger-mans,” he said.

But why? “Probably because wenever colonised India and main-tained a romantic view about it,”quipped Dr. Michaels.

PM NarendraModi withGermanChancellorAngela Merkel

So far, 254 stu-dents from 34 coun-tries have partici-pated in this course.Every year we areforced to rejectmany applications.

A significant partof the global culturalheritage willbecome extinct ifmajor languages fall prey to IndianEnglish.

— Prof. Axel Michaels,head of classical

Indology

— Hans Harder, HoD,modern South Asian lan-guages and literatures

Apartfrom Ger-

many, majorityof students comefrom US, Italy, UK

and the rest ofEurope

I will also learnBangla to deci-pher the seminalworks of GirindraSekharBose...LearningSanskrit is the first step.

— Francesca Lunari,medical student

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SANSKRIT...

15Mail Today, New Delhi, Wednesday, April 15, 2015 NEWS SPECIAL REPORT

Experts batfor Sanskritin schoolsBy Mail Today Bureauin New Delhi

EVEN as the rowover replacing Ger-man with Sanskritin KendriyaVidyalays partlyresurfaced in far

away in Berlin, educationistsback home feel that it is veryimportant to introduce San-skrit at the school level toenable students have a betterunderstanding of the subject.

“Sanskrit is an essentialpart of every Indian soul.Without the language, thesociety loses its identity.From Raja Ram Mohan Royto Mahatma Gandhi, every-one was inspired by the lan-guage. The whole renaissanceperiod was based on Sanskritliterature,” head of the San-skrit department at DelhiUniversity professor RameshBharadwaj told MAIL TODAY.

Historians, meanwhile, feelthat successive governmentshave taken no initiatives topromote the language amongthe people. “The central andstate governments, whichcame to power after Indepen-dence, have not extendedtheir support to the lan-guage. Our country is knownfor its culture, religion andphilosophical ideas. One can-not treat religious sentimentsand Sanskrit separately,”Bharadwaj added.

Recently, the HumanResources Development(HRD) ministry’s internalenquiry into the Memoran-dum of Understanding(MoU) with Germany, mak-ing German the third lan-guage in Kendriya Vidyalayashas revealed that neitherthe KendriyaVidyalaya Sang-hathan (KVS) northe ministryrealised that themove was a vio-lation of thethree-languageformula.

According to

the three-language formula,schools are required to teachHindi, English and a modernIndian language in schools.Sanskrit, however, is said tobe a popular option in north-ern states.

“We want all Indian lan-guages to be promotedbecause only five to six percent of people in India under-stand English. Most of them,even today, work in theirregional language. No otherlanguage can be understoodif there is no proper under-standing of Sanskrit,” theHoD of the Sanskrit depart-ment said.

Meanwhile, while on histour to Germany, Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi saidIndia’s secularism is not soweak that it could be shakenbecause of a language.Experts feel that Modi’sstatement is in accordancewith the Indian Constitution.

Though Modi did notelaborate on the

issue, his com-ments are beingseenin contextwith his govern-ment’s decisionto replace Ger-man with San-skrit in over 500

schools.

Educationists feel it is important to introduce Sanskritat school level as it will enable students to have a better understanding of the subject.

Three-language for-mula directs

schools to teachan Indian language

apart from Hindi& English

Sanskrit is an essentialpart of everyIndian soul.Without the language,the Indian society loses its identity.

— Prof RameshBharadwaj

INDIA’S secularism isnot so weak that itwill be shaken justbecause of a lan-guage, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi hassaid in the backdropof a row over Sanskritreplacing German ingovernment-runschools in India.

Addressing a recep-tion for the Indiancommunity on Mon-day, Modi referred toa time decades ago,when German radiohad a news bulletin inSanskrit.

“In India, there wasno news bulletin inSanskrit at that timebecause perhaps itwas thought that sec-ularism would be

endangered,” theprime minister said.

Modi said India’ssecularism is not soweak that it will beshaken just becauseof a language.

One should haveself-confidence. Self-confidence shouldnot be shaken, headded.

The prime ministerdid not elaborate buthis veiled commentsassume significanceas these camemonths after a rowover replacing ofGerman as third lan-guage in govern-ment-run KendiryaVidyalaya schoolswith Sanskrit.

PTI

‘LANGUAGE CANNOT

SHAKE SECULARISM’

REMADE IN GERMANYThe summer school inspoken Sanskrit at the

South Asia Institute,University of Heidelberg,

is attended by studentsfrom all over the world.

REUTERS